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MORENO VALLEY: Suspects sought in attempted kidnappings

In the past two weeks Riverside County Sheriff's deputies have responded to multiple calls of men, shown in these sketches, attempting to contact students to and on the way home from Inland area high schools.

Moreno Valley police are looking for three different men suspected in several attempted kidnappings of girls walking home in Moreno Valley.

Police said the incidents do not appear to be related, but each involved a man trying to lure teen girls away or into their vehicles.

The first report was Oct. 31 at 11 a.m. when two high school students said a man approached them each separately and asked the girls to get into his van, Moreno Valley police said.

One girl said a man got out of his white minivan on Cottonwood Avenue and walked toward her, asking her to come with him. After the girl repeatedly refused, the man grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her toward him. The girl threatened to call police, broke free, and then ran.

He was described as a heavy-set, unshaven man about 40-years-old, with short dark hair, wearing a gray T-shirt and blue jeans.

In another incident on the same day, a girl said a man left his minivan on Eucalyptus Avenue and tried to convince her to get into it. The girl told him to leave her alone and threatened to call police, causing him to speed away.

In a different incident Tuesday, Nov. 6, police said a man approached a group of teens as they were walking near Moreno Valley High School and asked them to get high on drugs. Later that day, a girl said a man stopped her near Vista Del Lago High School on John F. Kennedy Drive and asked her to smoke weed.

That man was in his late 30âs or early 40âs with a dark complexion, 5-foot-11, 200 pounds, with short black hair. He was seen wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans.

Police are also looking for a suspect in an attempted kidnapping, Nov. 7. A girl said she was walking home from school when a man pulled up in a blue-gray Nissan Altima. The man asked her if she wanted a ride and tried to approach her. The girl ran and told her parents the man had tried to abduct her.

The man is described as 5-foot-8, heavy set, with a mustache, wearing a black ball cap and sunglasses. He also wore a gray zip-up hoodie.

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